Dozens Of Parents And Conservative Group Up In Arms Over Transgender Student's Bathroom Business

Dozens of parents attended a school board meeting at Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Missouri, because of a transgender student’s choice of using her gender’s bathroom at a high school.

Lila Perry, a high school senior, says she has known she was transgender since she was 13. She was using a gender-neutral faculty restroom and not taking gym class.

This year she says she wanted to fit in with other girls, so she began using the girl’s rooms, reported Fox 2 Now.

Parents of students at the school became concerned because, though Perry presents herself as a female with dresses and a wig, she still has male genitals.

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“They (non-transgender girls) should have the ability to do whatever they need to do in the privacy of the bathroom without having a male in there,” said Derrick Good, a father of two girls at the school. “They have a right to their own bodily privacy, and I’ve raised my girls, and many of these parents have raised their girls, to protect that privacy. They don’t share that with members of the opposite sex.”

While "sex" refers to a person’s biological makeup, "gender" refers to a person’s sense of self, reported The Guardian. Transgender people are typically referred to by their preferred gender.

“I’m not going to hurt their daughters. I’m not going to expose myself. I’m not a pervert; I’m a transgender woman; I’m a girl. I’m just in there to change, do my business, and that if they have any questions about being transgender, they are more than welcome to talk to me, and I’ll be happy to explain it,” Perry said.

Perry said harassment on social media made her afraid for her physical safety if she has to use the boys’ restroom.

It is not certain when or if the school board will make a decision on the matter.

So many parents attended the school board meeting, which did not include gendered bathrooms on the agenda, that the school had to move the meeting to the gymnasium.

Good worked with an attorney, other parents and a conservative advocacy group to draft a new school district policy, which they believe the court will uphold. The policy would force students to use the restroom associated with the sex they were born with or a gender-neutral restroom.

Good said the school is worried it will lose funding if it is involved in a civil rights lawsuit.